A lot has happened since the last post, merely 24 hours ago! 24 hours ago, Obama was not taking sides in the Egyptian riots (but vaguely supporting Mubarak), the President of Egypt had not responded to the protesters requests, the Jordanian government was still in full power, and the US ally Yemei President intended on keeping power, even after 32 years.

24 hours later, President Obama advised Mubarak to step aside, which he did, in a sense, proclaiming that he has chosen not to run for reelection in the upcoming September elections. The protesters are being told by the Egyptian military to “go home,” but the Egyptians are not convinced that they will get the reforms they seek, especially while Mubarak is still in power.

Also, in other Middle East news, following the riots in Tunisia and Egypt, King Abdullah II dissolved the Jordanian government in the face of small riots in his own country and established a new prime minister, boosted economic opportunities, and gave Jordanians greater political power. The Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t believe the change is enough.

And to continue the turmoil, today Ali Abdullah Saleh has responded to protests against him in his country by announcing that he will not remain in power nor turn over power to his son as previously intended.

Wow.

Keep an eye on the Middle East turmoil. History is in the making – and no one knows what the result will be.

For more than a week, the people of Egypt have been rioting against an oppressive government of 30 years.

“Decades of frustration, borne out of police brutality, systematic corruption and desperate poverty, exploded into revolutionary anger overnight. And the bad news for Mubarak is that this anger shows no sign of abating” (Bradley, Daily Mail).

And Mubarak is refusing to step down, despite the pleas of the people. Instead, the police and military have been mobilized against the protesters, and the death toll is already above 100.

And throughout these riots, the White House has claimed its neutrality, a shocking contrast to the America of the past where freedom from dictatorships was who we were. We believed in freedom.

Thus far, Americans have not been targeted as part of the protest, but it will not be long before the Egyptian people, and perhaps the Muslim Brotherhood will use this to their advantage, realize that a main reason Mubarak and his government have remained in power so long is support from the United States. As we do so often in our recent history, the United States has backed yet another dictator over the freedom of its people. Other examples in the Middle East are the Shah of Iran after the CIA/MI6 overthrow of the Iranian democratic leader and (ironically) Saddam Hussein. America’s more recent track record doesn’t bode well.

With America being such a great ally of Egypt, one must wonder who America is friends with – the hated dictator or the people of Egypt?

America was founded on an uprising against a King and Parliament who overtaxed and treated the colonies like a group of second-class citizens.

The people of Egypt have been the victims of brutality (example: a 13 year old boy beaten and raped by police for suspicion of stealing tea), vast corruption, and censorship. Egypt has out up with more than our Founding Fathers did before they chose to retake their freedom. And yet the President of the United States will not choose to support the protesters and the freedom of the Egyptian people because of political bounds to the dictatorial government of Egypt? What happened, America?

Why has President Obama said that protesters have the responsibility to “express themselves peacefully”? Think about it. Expressing yourself peacefully in a regime that throttles the press, arrests and beats citizens without cause, and Obama would have them express themselves peacefully? President Mubarak has already closed all routes of effective expression of opposing views peacefully.

And as history should teach us, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” (JFK).

In an interview in Ecuador on June 8th, Hillary revealed that the Obama Administration is going to sue Arizona over their immigration law.

First off, more than half of America agrees with the Arizona immigration law, and many states wish to implement similar laws in the near future. With such support from citizens and states in the Union, one would think that Obama would never go so far as to challenge the Law in court…especially on the grounds that:

“President Obama has spoken out against the law because he thinks that the federal government should be determining immigration policy.” (Quote from Hillary in the interview)

Contrary to the federal government’s belief, determining immigration policy is not in their power. The only part of the Constitution giving them any power in immigration is as follows:

Excerpt of Article 1, Section 9
“The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.”

Essentially, until the year 1888, the federal government could not keep states from allowing the immigration of those they see fit. They could only place a minor tax on such importation.

Since it is clearly after 1888, the government now has the power to keep states from allowing some immigration.

The federal government does not have the power to force a state to allow for the immigration for certain people. That power lies within the separate states themselves, along with most power in the country.

If Obama sues Arizona over the law, Arizona must win. There is no choice – the federal government does not hold the Constitutional right to force immigration of peoples upon a state. Need I repeat the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights?

Amendment X
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The power to keep people out of the States is not delegated to the US federal government by the Constitution, and it is not prohibited to the States by the Constitution – thus, it is reserved to the States or to the people!

(Then, of course, there’s the fact that the law is dealing with illegal immigration – thus, Invasion, which the federal government is supposed to protect the States and the citizens from. More on this in previous blog entry)

The following video reveals extremely important information about the Arizona border – and how Obama and our federal government are failing their constitutional duties. This is very wrong.

One does NOT take care of crime by relinquishing control of a crime-ridden area to the criminals and advising everyone else to stay away. That land belongs to Arizona – not Mexico, and not the federal government.

And even more importantly, the federal government is severely violating the Constitution, resulting in loss of American property and life. Article IV Section 4 of the United States Constitution states [emphasis mine]:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.

How is drug and gang crime from a neighboring country, which results in the death and loss of Americans near the Southern border, NOT invasion? And now Obama has surrendered these lands to these invaders.

The federal government is REQUIRED to protect American citizens. It is one of the few purposes that the federal government was supposed to exist for! They are failing as our government – they are failing the American people.

From the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

The federal government is there for our protection. Yet, time and time again, the federal government continues to violate our rights, our freedoms, for their own gain on their own whims. The more they do, the more they violate our rights.

Americans are being taken from their homes because the federal government is not even trying to do their job.

Americans are dying on American soil because the federal government is violating our Constitution.

How much more are we going to take? Our Founding Fathers revolted over taxation without representation – that is the least of our government’s crimes.

“That’s what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors, but bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are.” Obama said this in a debate against Hillary Clinton in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2008.

Yet now Democrats are negotiating and discussing the health care bill behind closed doors. Congress is leaving out the GOP. Obama has done nothing to bring the parties together – he has forced them more apart than ever. The only thing allowing him to do this is the Democratic majority – but that majority will not last long.

The American people are fed up with the lies, the broken promises, the bribes, the deals behind closed doors, and a government that is not listening to the people.

Our President does not care about what the people believe or want – he wants to get items passed that he wants, and he wants to get them through quickly, without proper negotiations and process. He wants to be able to announce such new policies as great victories, when they are really devastating weapons against the people’s freedoms.

In an opinion article on the Russian news site Pravda, the author blatantly laid out the process taking place in America, where capitalism and freedom are/were being replaced by Marxism and socialism. This was posted in April, 2009, just three months after Obama’s inauguration.

The Russians knew that America was doomed even before Obama’s election – how did we not?

A dummy of President Obama was found hanging from a sign dedicated to Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia. The Secret Service is now on a hunt for the person or persons responsible.

“The sheriff made this clear: This is a country that has freedom of speech, and we protect that right even when we think it’s idiotic and stupid and in bad taste,” said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

The display “appears to violate no law, said officials of the Secret Service.”

Yet, the Secret Service is investigating and is in search of who did it, when it is nothing more than a use of free speech? That is because the above quotes are not about the effigy of Obama, but another effigy:

When Palin was hung in effigy, no one did anything about it because it was “free speech.” Even the Secret Service themselves admitted that the effigy violated no laws.

Hanging someone in effigy is a form of speech and protest, both of which the American people have a right to under the US Constitution. Hanging someone in effigy has long been a symbol of distaste, anger, or resentment and is sometimes used as an extreme way to communicate that you disagree with the person.

Whoever it was who hung Obama in effigy did nothing wrong. The Secret Service should not be hunting for them. The act was one of free speech and protest against the President – again, both rights are guaranteed through the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

President Obama has turned down a dinner with King Harald V, didn’t visit his own exhibition in the Nobel Peace Center, didn’t go to a concert that was arranged in his honor, and even dissed a group of children who were to meet him in front of City Hall.

Norwegians (those giving him the Peace Prize) are shocked and angered by these snubs. Obama is breaking tradition in such a way as being (likely) the most rude winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in history. Some could try to pass it off as Obama simply not understanding European culture – but surely no one can buy that. He has people who know the culture advising him, and European culture is not so vastly different from American culture that it is entirely incomprehensible.

These actions are sheer arrogance.

President Obama is the way in which America is viewed by the rest of the world. He is our leader, thus, he (is supposed to) reflect the people. Obama has consistently showed himself to be mightier-than-thou, arrogant, rude, and, to put it simply, a lie. The Obama that the people elected was nothing more than a mask of hope – underneath, there’s just a boorish, self-centered man who has no idea how to even be a gentleman.